Logical reasoning PrepTest 143 · Section 1 · Question 21

Incorrect. The prediction is about sales at the current price, so this answer about the price decreasing is out of scope.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Strengthen

Stimulus Summary:
A new GPS device herds cattle. However, it's more expensive to place on all cows than it is to use a different herding solution.
Prediction Ð The ranchers will use it anyway.

Answer Anticipation:
The prediction here that ranchers will use this device seems to fly in the face of the evidence—there are cheaper alternatives out there. In order to justify it, then, one of two things must be true:

(1) The benefits of using this make up for the "far more expensive" devices—maybe they're more effective, or they prevent some other expense;
or
(2) The cost isn't as high as suggested, for example if only a majority of cows need to be outfitted in order to get the rest of the herd to follow the majority

Let's keep our eyes open for any answers that address either added benefits or lower-than-expected cost.

Answer Explanation:
This answer raises a way to get the benefit without the cost. That cost is noted as being high if "[o]utfitting all of the cattle in a herd," but this answer raises the possibility that you could get the benefit by only outfitting a few cattle. If this were true, then it's more likely that the ranchers will see the benefit outweighing the now lower cost.

Key Takeaway:
This argument compared the cost of two solutions, but it didn't do so on an even ground. We could have noted this while reading the stimulus in that it qualified that comparison—it didn't say that using the devices would be far more expensive than other options, but rather that outfitting "all of the cattle in a herd" would be more expensive. In the future, when you see a qualification like that, start to think if it actually applies.

Incorrect. The suggested issue with widespread adoption was related to cost, not other downsides of using the device, so eliminating another downside doesn't overcome the noted objection and thus doesn't strengthen the argument.

Incorrect. If the device is just as effective as other, cheaper methods, then it's unclear why ranchers would buy it at the current, higher price.

Incorrect. The stimulus notes that outfitting all of the cattle in a herd with the device is more expensive than alternatives—so we accept that as true, and it must, then, take into account this bulk discount.